Special delivery of Moa to Scott Base

Award-winning beer Moa is sending a special delivery of 2,000 bottles – plastic, not glass – to Scott Base to help get the icemen through the southern summer when the temperature can reach a balmy -3C.

Three types of the Marlborough-brewed beer will be loaded onto a ship leaving Christchurch for Antarctica on Tuesday, 11 January.

Those summering over on the ice will have a unique Moa experience as the delicate nature of the southern continent’s environment means everything that goes in must come back out.

“Our team had to come up with a solution so we`ve been experimenting with plastic bottles, which have proven to be very successful and maintain the delicious Moa taste,” says brewer Josh Scott.

He and his team bottled Moa Methode, Moa Blanc and Moa Noir in 600ml plastic bottles just before Christmas and, after a tasting session, said they were “drinking very well”.

“We`re also creating a new Moa label and have developed a special version of it just for the Antarctica shipment.”

Moa national sales manager Gareth Hughes says: “Apparently there are about 30,000 cans of beer consumed by Kiwis in Antarctica every year. It is great they can now enjoy a hand-crafted Moa in a purpose-built plastic bottle.”

However, he does expect the Kiwis to be protective of their stock of Moa – “the Americans are only invited over to the base on selected nights because they apparently drink quite a lot so the Moa will be precious cargo.”